The Emerald Swordsman
by Ultimate Prime
Summary: REWRITE! A test one-shot for my upcoming story. The Dai Li are elite but corrupted warriors, feared even by their own countrymen, except one. OC


Disclaimer: I own nothing of Avatar the Last Airbender except for any character not heard of or seen on the show.

Author's Note: Well, here it is! My first Avatar fan fic! Unfortunately, it's a one-shot but also a preview/teaser for what I have in mind for my first Avatar story. I hope you all read and enjoy this story! Please R&R, rather you like it, love it, or hate it!!

EDITED: Made some changes for the better! Hope you like it better!!

Summary: A test chapter for my upcoming story. The Dai Li are elite but corrupted warriors, feared even by their own countrymen, except one.

The Emerald Swordsman

1/1

They strode their way through the market way with a purposeful grace and a challenging glare upon the people that generations ago they had sworn to protect when they were organized by Avatar Kyoshi. It just took their uniforms alone to frighten the citizens who scurried out of harm's way.

They were once a respected group of the Earth Kingdom's elite warriors, trusted to protect their country's way of life. Now, they were nothing more than corrupted and power-hungry, but still a dangerous force to be reckoned with, especially with their Earthbending.

It took just three to strike fear in the heart of their own citizens, and they were enjoying it. They had halted in their march for one to snag an apple from a nearby vender and take a huge chunk out of it, without pay. The vender himself was a poor man with a wife and daughter to feed, but he dared not to speak up.

The Dai Li agent suddenly spit out the chewed remains and threw the apple at the vender before grapping him by his shirt. "What kind of apples are you serving here, huh?! Mine was rotten!!"

Trembling with fear, the vender raised his hands up in an innocent manner. "I-I'm sorry! T-they were f-fine a minute ago…!"

The Dai Li agent glared down at the shaking vender. "Are you calling me a liar?!"

"N-no, sir! I-I guess I should take…take better care of m-my apples!"

The Dai Li agent was about to continue with his assault on the vender, until a slender hand appeared, taking up an apple and bringing it to awaiting mouth of the hand's owner. Both the agents and the vender watched as a teenage girl took a bite out of the apple.

"Mmm." the girl hummed after finishing her bite. "They taste good to me." She concluded with a satisfied smile, paying for her apple in the wooden bowl the vender used for collecting money.

The Dai Li agent scowled and threw the vender down with a thud. Spitting on the ground, the Dai Li agent walked away, passing the teenage girl, followed by the other agents. With the Dai Li's retreating, the teenage girl moved to help the vender up.

"I'm very thankful for your help, Jin, but you shouldn't be doing things like that. It'll only get you into worse trouble than I would have been." the vender warned.

Jin shrugged. "I'm not afraid of those monsters."

"I've heard that before." the vender sighed as he dusted himself off. He turned to the teenage girl, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Trust me, Jin. The Dai Li are more dangerous than you think, aside from their Earthbending. Just be more careful."

She patted his hand with an appreciative smile. "Don't worry. Please tell your wife I said hello." Jin began heading off, but slowed her pace as she turned to face the vender again. "And thanks for the apple! They're the best on the market!" The vender laughed and waved her off. When her back was turned again though, the vender's smile had left, replaced by a concerned frown for his young savior.

Members of the Dai Li were known for holding grudges, especially against an innocent teenage girl like Jin.

~ ~ O ~ ~

Unfortunately, the vender's fears had come true. On her way to the tea house for the simple reason of seeing Li, Jin had decided to take a shortcut in one of the alleys. As soon as she came up to a crossway of four buildings, the same three Dai Li agents appeared.

Jin gasped and started running in the direction she came from, only to be stopped when the ground itself rose into a high pillar and blocked off her path. She turned and glared at the Dai Li agent. Though they had her cornered, she refused to show any ounce of fear. She wouldn't dare give them the satisfaction.

It seemed to have mattered little.

The Dai Li agent, the one who had assaulted the apple vender earlier, walked up towards Jin with a wicked grin.

"So, you have quite the sharp tongue. Don't you, young one?"

"I'm not afraid of you!" Jin claimed.

The agent smirked. "The duty of the Dai Li is to protect not just Ba Sing Se, but all of the Earth Kingdom and our way of living. In order to prove ourselves, we must have our enemies see us as strong and steady as the earth itself. How do you think it would be like for us three if word got out that a little girl spoke against the champions of the Earth Kingdom?"

Jin threw the agent a skeptical look. "Champions?! Don't make me laugh! You're all nothing more than a pack of bullies! You're all nothing more than a disgrace to your own people!"

The agent's grin slowly vanished into the same scowl from before. With the stomp of his foot, Jin was tossed up in the air from the ground beneath her feet and into the arms of one of the bigger agents. She struggled to break free, but the strength in the agent's muscular arms was too much.

"A feisty one, isn't she?" the third agent spoke up.

The agent who seemed to have been deemed the leader of the pack, approached the captured teenager, cupping her chin in his hand. "That she is, but perhaps we could change that. Let's take her back. I could use a servant girl around the house."

Jin spat in his face.

"Why, you little….!!" the angered agent raised a hand.

"Stop!" a voice commanded from behind in one of the unblocked paths of the crossway.

All turned to find that the voice had belonged to a teenage boy. He was tall, lean. His long hair was light brown and flowed down his shoulders, and his eyes were green. He was dressed in a long white vest-like tabard with a same-colored sash around his waist, both having a much deeper meaning than just fancy wearing, over a short robe-like tunic and pants that were the traditional green and yellow colors of the Earth Kingdom and brown boots.

It was what was grasped in his right hand that gained the attention of Dai Li. For Jin though, it was his looks. Next to Li, he was the most handsome young man she had ever laid eyes upon.

In his right hand was a double-edged sword about the length of the young man's arm and three fingers wide; its hilt was brown with a golden round guard, encased in a brown hardwood scabbard.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" the young man demanded.

"Our duties. Now run along, boy, unless you'd like to join the girl." the leader threatened.

The young man paid no heed to the agent's warning.

"Three guys against one girl? Unless she's an Earthbender, it just doesn't seem fair." The youth smirked.

"And you have the nerve to call yourselves Dai Li agents."

The agent leader gritted his teeth after being insulted for a second time by a teenager in a single day.

"You talk big, boy. Let's see if you can back it up!" The leader thrust a high kick into the ground, sending a destructive wave of the earth in the youth's direction.

The young man easily dodged the attack, leaping high into the air. Jin's captor's eyes grew wide when he saw the young man flip his body still in the air during his leap before the youth connected his foot against the muscular agent's shoulder. The blow forced the agent back, releasing Jin who the young man quickly caught in his free arm before she could hit the ground.

"Are you alright?"

It took Jin a second to snap herself out of her daze before she was able to look up at the concerned expression of her young savior.

"….I…."

Before should could finish, the young man quickly put Jin behind him as the agents surrounded him, all guarding the unblocked paths of the crossway again. The muscular agent rubbed at his shoulder as the pain from the young man's kick started to subside.

"You're going to pay for that, boy!" the leader sneered. "Assaulting a Dai Li agent is a very serious offense! One that'll have you locked up for good!"

The young man turned to Jin. "Listen. Stay between the other two guards."

"What?" Jin exclaimed in a whispered voice.

"Trust me. You'll be safe from what's about to happen." the young man promised. If Jin were to protest, any ideas dispersed from her mind when she saw the look in his eyes. If it wasn't the tone of his voice, it was that very look in her eyes that told Jin that the young stranger was telling her the truth.

She could trust him.

Jin nodded her head, and backed away into wall between the smaller and the bigger Dai Li agents. Neither seemed to have noticed her.

The young man held out his sword sideways at the leader of the three agents. "If you want me, you'll have to beat me."

"Oh, but we will! Now, learn what happens," after a hard stomp to the earth, a round chunk of the ground flew up at eye-level to the leader who punched it in the direction of the young swordsman, "when you mess with the Dai Li!!"

SHIING!!!

The sound of a sword leaving its sheath rang in the ears of all around, and suddenly, the youth had his sword raised up high at the heavens as the round chunk of earth split into half down the middle, colliding into the other two agents who had been too surprised to use their Earthbending to defend themselves before they were rendered unconscious.

The leader himself had no time to react when he saw that the youth had the tip of his sword aimed right at his neck, a icy cold expression gracing his features.

"Predictable. Even for a low level Earthbender." The young man noticed the agent's hand twitch, and only edged the tip of his sword closer. "I wouldn't recommend Earthbending."

"P-please! Don't kill me!" the leader pleaded. "I was….I was only doing my job!"

The young man scowled. "You're job?! You call three men harassing a girl a job?!"

The youth moved his sword away from the frightened Dai Li agent, sheathing it back into its scabbard as he glared at the leader. "I've never taken a life, and I'm not about to start by staining my sword with the blood of a creep like you!"

As soon as the agent saw the young man put away his sword, it was that moment he decided to attack.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, b…!!"

Before he could bend the earth against the youth, Jin came out of nowhere, punching the agent across his face just hard enough to knock him out, and have her a second later rubbing her hand.

"Jerk!" she spat at the unconscious agent, and kicked him.

The young man just stared wide-eyed between Jin and the knocked out agent. His eyes stopped at Jin. "Wow. That's one heck of a punch."

"It's all in the wrist." Jin smiled as the pain in her hand started to subside. She turned to the young man and bowed. "Thank you for helping me."

The young man waved at her. "It was no problem, really. I'm Shin, by the way." he introduced himself with a bow.

"It's very nice to meet you, Shin, especially under the circumstances. I'm Jin. Are you from around here?"

"Sorta. I was born in Ba Sing Se, but I've been away for a long time. I'm supposed to meet up with someone, but as you can see, I got a little carried away." Shin explained, motioning at the unconscious agents. The muscular one suddenly mumbled something about sugar rice cakes in his unconsciousness.

"What are you going to do about them? If they wake up, they'll surely be after you." Jin warned him, but Shin shook his head.

"They won't. Those three are already in over their heads. Who'd believe a kid swordsman beat three agents of the legendary Dai Li anyways, right? It'd be too humiliating if it ever got out in public." Shin pointed out with a wink.

"Well, I'm really sorry to run off like this, but I must hurry before I miss my friend." Shin bowed to Jin one more time. "It was nice meeting you, Jin. Next time, I hope we meet under more peaceful circumstances."

With that, Shin hurried away, leaving Jin to gaze his retreating form. She suddenly sighed happily with a dreamy look on her face.

"Me too.."

"Oooh." the agent leader groaned. "I think I lost a tooth…."

Jin kicked the agent back into unconsciousness before continuing on her way to the tea house.

The image of her sword-wielding savior though was not about to leave her mind anytime soon. At least, not until she got to the Jasmine Dragon.

Fin


End file.
